Resurrection Mall available now from Down & Out Books.
Look for the newest Nick Forte novel, Bad Samaritan, in January, also from Down & Out Books.

One Bite at a Time

Monday, June 16, 2014

It's Not Just Kids Who Take a Village

A Small Sacrifice
had sold 22 copies when I heard it was nominated for a Shamus. Maybe I should make
a better effort.

This new cover can’t hurt. The original wasn’t just not
indicative of the story; it may have been actively misleading.

I’ll post some samples, tell some stories about how it came
to be written, try to put together a blog tour and set up some interviews; the agent may have a few things up his sleeve.
A promotion. Hell, maybe I’ll even spend some money, get the word out.

What I need to do first is to thank some people. It’s
customary to do this after an award has been won; my ego is not that large. (Lest
my inner Donald Trump try to wrest control from my better judgment, the
Montgomery County (MD) library system informed me that Grind Joint did not “meet [their] needs” on the same day the Shamus
nomination was announced) I’m thanking them now because I don’t want the
opportunity to pass. Award losers thank people for—what? Helping to write a
book that didn’t win?

So, in no particular order:

The Writers of Chantilly, who were subjected to the entire
book, a chapter or two at a time, while it was still in the sausage-making phase.

John McNally and the writers of Jenny McKean Moore writers’
workshop, Spring Semester of 2002. My submitted writing samples were from early
drafts of this book. (Yes, it’s that old.) They helped me to decide what was
important enough to tell, and how best to tell it. I stumbled across John’s
notes to me yesterday, including a handwritten comment that mentioned the
ending may be anticlimactic, wasting a good setup scene. The ending now is nothing
like what he was given.

Charlie Schlueter, my trumpet teacher at New England
Conservatory. There’s a blog post half-written about how the things Charlie
taught me about trumpet playing transferred into other aspects of life, notably
writing. I’m get it out over the next few weeks.

Pam Strickler, my first agent. Pam took the time to teach me
what I might work on most in my craft: how to find the places where five words
can do the work of seven.

Barbara Braun, my second agent, who almost sold A Small Sacrifice several years ago.
There’s a decided change in the current version from what she first saw, as she
taught me how to look for god in the machine while it was still under
construction.

My daughter Rachel, aka The Sole Heir™. There are few things that happen with Nick and his daughter
she and I didn’t do first. And more entertainingly.

Charlie Stella, the Godfather of Mob Fiction, without whom Grind Joint would not have been
published. Without that validation, I doubt I would have submitted A Small Sacrifice for consideration.

Declan Burke, who talked me out of quitting several years
ago—when no books would have been published—and gave me a nudge to look into
what other things might fall my way after Grind
Joint was well received.

Last, but not least, The Beloved Spouse. She wasn’t around
when A Small Sacrifice was
written—well, she was alive, just not around me, and, since I’m a guy, that’s
all that matters—because she does things every day I should thank her for and
don’t always remember to, she does them so often and effortlessly.

Lots of ways to order Res Mall

Worst Enemies, Book 1 of the Penns River series

Click the cover to buy

Grind Joint, Book 2 of the Penns River series

Click the cover to buy

Forte 4: A Dangerous Lesson Available Now! Click the image below to purchase.

Chicago Private Investigator Nick Forte’s official task is to find out what he can about Jennifer Vandenbusch’s new suitor, who fails to measure up in the eyes of the family matriarch, Jennifer’s grandmother. This seems par for the course for Forte, as his personal life has been leading him through a series of men who treat women badly, though none nearly as badly as the Thursday Night Slasher. Forte lives on the fringes of the investigation run by his old friend Sonny Ng until elements of Forte’s case and life dovetail with the Slasher investigation, leading to Forte discovering more about the crimes—and himself—than he wanted to know.

The Man in the Window

"...we see him getting rougher, tougher and darker book by book. There are multiple twists in the end, two cool sidekicks, good action scenes and some pretty nifty Chanderlisms in this book, adding up to a perfect PI read"--Sons of Spade blog

The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of (Nick Forte 2)

It's a kind of authorial magic that The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of works as a tribute and as a story, and that neither aspect interferes in the least with the other… I can imagine this book finding its way into a class on writing crime fiction as an example of how to pay tribute to one's predecessors while at the same time writing a story that can stand on its own. It's an impressive accomplishment.--- Peter Rozovsky, Detectives Beyond Borders, December 18, 2014

About Me

Two of my Nick Forte Private investigator novels (A SMALL SACRIFICE and THE MAN IN THE WINDOW) received nominations for Shamus Awards. I also write a series of police procedurals set in the economically depressed town of Penns River PA, published by Down & Out Books. A non-fiction essay, “Chandler’s Heroes,” appeared in Spinetingler Magazine online in October of 2013.
I live in Laurel MD with The Beloved Spouse.